Tag: God’s blessings

According to the Bible, each and every day is a day to rejoice and be glad because the LORD made this day for men and women, for boys and girls, for young and old, and for you and me.

Psalms 118:24:
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

The Word of God encourages us to rejoice and to be glad in this day. Recognizing God throughout the day brings great gladness and joy into our lives. When we walk with God and recognize that He is with us, being grateful simply for the air we breathe, then we will also realize that the Lord indeed made this day for us. The Psalm continues:

Save now is referring to this day that the LORD hath made, and in this day, the Psalmist is beseeching the LORD to send now prosperity. This passage is referring to the necessities that we need today, and thanking God for those things that we now have. Then, beyond the basics, what further abundance would bless our lives today? When we recognize that God indeed cares for us and we trust in Him, then the daily prosperity that we receive will cause our hearts to rejoice as it draws gladness out from our very souls.

Every person has different circumstances and daily needs, but God can and does care for each of us individually. “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

God promises in His Word that He will meet our every need, “but seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things {that we need to sustain life — mentally, physically, and spiritually} shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). The true blessings of God come to us according to our believing His Word. By looking to God’s healing Word, and by prayer offered in the name of Jesus Christ, and with genuine thankfulness from the heart, we may also look for and expect that our God will be there for us with daily blessings, and we can in thankfulness recognize that His blessings are real.

John 6:11:
And Jesus took the loaves {5 loaves of bread}; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down {about five thousand people}; and likewise of the fishes {2 small fishes} as much as they would.

When Jesus gave thanks, he was asking for God’s blessings on what they had, that the blessing would go a very, very long way — and it certainly did. This is the power of true prayer with the giving of thanks to God in prayer.

Many people “say grace” before meals but the Bible says to “give thanks” to God (in advance) for His blessings and grace upon us. In fact, did you know that the Bible never instructs believers (ever) to “say grace,” but rather His Word encourages us to enjoy and accept His graces that have been freely given to us in Christ and to give thanks, always — even today, for this is the day in which the LORD made for you and me to rejoice and to be glad. Learning to enjoy an attitude of thankfulness in our prayer life softens the heart, squelches greed, and humbly accepts the grace of God without reservation for His abundance to begin flowing our way.

In John 6:11 above, Jesus did not see any lack in the limited amount of the food he had, but he thanked God to do miraculous things with the little they had for a multitude of people, for giving prosperity to those for whom Jesus was responsible, and everybody thankfully had as much as they would. This was Jesus living the true meaning of send now prosperity, as he was beseeching God with the giving of thanks for His care upon them this day. The place where this miracle took place became known as “. . . the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks” (John 6:23b). It is in our thankfulness for what we have that allows God to truly work miraculous things in our own lives, today and every day.

I want to tell you a story about a young man who was down on his luck, out of money, and very hungry. Someone explained to him about being thankful to God in his prayer life, and so he prayed, thanking God in Jesus Christ’s name for his little twenty-five cent bag of potato chips to somehow fill him up (about ten or twelve chips). Then he began to eat as he was reading his Bible; about a half hour later, he looked down into the bag and realized that the chips had miraculously filled his famished appetite. He saw a half of a bag of chips still in the bag, and he uttered, “gee, thanks God, I have had enough” as he then ate the last few chips! I believe this happened for him because he thanked God for the little he had. This man was blessed by God in order that he would rejoice and be glad on that day. This man did not just sit around waiting for a miracle to happen, rather he simply was thankful to God and gave his need to Him in prayer, and God became his sufficiency.

When we believe: This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will be living a lifestyle in daily thankfulness and we will rejoice and be glad in it, not just for one day in the year but always. If we have food to eat and a place to sleep, we will have every good reason to be thankful today for the blessings bestowed upon us, and our God will give us great expectations for all our tomorrows.

“The phrase seed money, as far as giving and tithing to a church or TV ministry is concerned, is wrong to the core. Using this phrase instills a counterfeit concept because the giving should come from the product produced and one should not be giving away their seeds. Deuteronomy 16:17 teaches us that, “Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.” The blessings must come first! Not until the seeds produce are believers to give from the abundance! Even the Children of Israel never gave their seeds away, but a handful of their firstfruits from the produce of their seeds, freely offered in thankfulness for God’s abundant blessings upon them and their land! The heart of the matter is that we may give when we are inspired by God, but His Word does not say to do so out of the household funds, like your food or lights or gas or the children’s lunch money; that is just plain irresponsible. God gave you your money first and foremost for your needs. God supplies your needs as much He does theirs, and if He is not supplying theirs, then they are doing something wrong. You are not simply a means of revenue or a cash flow pawn for the luxury of leather-tongued orators whose so-called ministry is to guilt you into giving! So, do we believe God’s Word? Believing God’s Word is planting the seeds of authentic abundance which in turn open up the floodgates to His abundant healing Word along with our absolutely enjoying His fullness. Question: Would you happen to know where that verse is where Jesus says, C’mon Man, Where’s That Seed Money? Cause I’m Only Gonna Work in the Shade Where Your Seed Money Grows. Oh, it’s not in the KJV Bible you say? Well then, Lesson Learned! Also, where are the verses where Jesus was taking from his followers? Because I can only find verses where he gives of himself and his very life so that his people could receive ─ first! Are we not his people, or do we belong only if we have seed money for gleaners who usurp his good name for lucre? What Is Not in the Scriptures Is so Often Just as Important as What Is in the Scriptures!” ~LMJ~

For more on this topic, see our Bible Bytes titled: God’s Blessings and The Fullness of God (The First Principle)

The greatest things in life are free. A man may sell his soul, but he cannot buy eternal life, peace, joy, true inner happiness, or love. These are all gifts of God! We can stand in total awe of these gifts, and thoroughly enjoy them, for they far surpass any monetary value; as Philippians 4:19 reads “my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” The richest people on earth are those who have their needs supplied by God, day to day from the riches of His glory. Conversely, the people with large wallets may not be experiencing all the gifts and blessings of God in their lives. The Scripture in I Peter 1:8 informs us that we can “rejoice with joy unspeakable”; or joy beyond explanation, and this joy is an inner quality of life which is a spiritual manifestation of having God in Christ in our hearts while we are receiving and enjoying heavenly, God-given blessings.

II Corinthians 9:15:
Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

Although we cannot fully explain our inner joy and the unspeakable gift of God, we certainly can enjoy realizing unmistakable revelations of having these divine gifts. As we begin experiencing the true treasures of life, recognizing from whence they come and Who gave them, then we will be totally unfettered to give freely from our heartfelt inner joy and thankfulness to God.

God desires that we receive and grasp the realities of our heavenly blessings and treasures which He alone freely gives to men and women who are meek and humble to His healing Word and will.

Acts 20:35b-36:
-35b: . . . {The Apostle Paul said that we are} to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
-36: And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all.

The word blessed means to be happy or to have happiness. These words that Jesus spoke were remembered and talked about by the believers and are not recorded in the Gospels, only here in the Book of Acts. The commentaries have always assumed that verse 36 was narrated back to the Apostle Paul who knelt down and prayed with those he was teaching. However, from the Greek Text verse 36 is a continuation of the words and action of Jesus: “it is more blessed to give than to receive, and when he {Jesus} had thus spoken, he {Jesus} kneeled down, and prayed with them all.” This completes and fulfills the true understanding that Jesus was explaining in the Gospels, and because of the prayer they were experiencing happiness, and thus, they were expressing inner thankfulness to God. We can find nothing to suggest that the Apostle Paul did not also follow through with Christ’s example and prayed with those whom he was teaching in Acts 20. “More blessed {happy} to give than to receive” does NOT negate the blessings of receiving, rather it is in reference to the more we give thanks to God, the more we then can receive to then have to give again out from what He gives.

God always wants His children to be happy, and as we learn to discover His true blessings upon our lives, then happiness follows, and the first, the very first thing that we do is to return thankfulness to God. “. . . a threefold cord is not quickly broken (Ecclesiastes 4:12b).” The threefold cord as it concerns “giving and receiving” is that God first gives divine spiritual treasures to man, secondly man in return gives thankfulness, honor, and respect back to God, then thirdly God again returns to man the spiritual blessings in physical abundant realities. This is a threefold cord that God will honor and continue to reward. This is what Jesus and Paul were explaining by teaching and by example. “Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee” (Deuteronomy 16:17). See how the blessing came first before any giving is even mentioned? This gives us a spiritual mindset on giving based on receiving blessings.

Psalms 146:5:
Happy {there is that word again} is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:

Let us look at Jacob in Genesis who sought God for his help and who spoke to Him in a way that at first blush would seem to be a little rude if not downright blasphemous (in the way some think, believe, and teach on tithing these days). Nevertheless, what he said to God was in fact following the theme of what we just read about from Acts and Deuteronomy, above, and the theme of God’s Blessings that we are looking at in this study and the reason for Jacob’s happiness that could be ours as well. “And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If {IF, IF} God will be with me, and {IF You} will keep me in this way that I go, and {IF You} will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then {THEN} shall the LORD be my God” (Genesis 28:20-21). Wow, really? Yes ― really, IF God would, then he would ― and God did, and he did.

Jacob went to the source of abundance, “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof” (Psalms 24:1), he went directly to the LORD God, Who “giveth thee power to get wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:18) and said IF YOU SUPPLY ― THEN I WILL GIVE. “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matthew 21:22); note, the only thing given here is a prayer, and a prayer is simply believing with thankfulness to God. It is from this request and understanding that Jacob not only lived an abundant life, but he concluded “of all that thou {God} shalt give me {of all things, whatsoever he asked in prayer and received} I will surely give the tenth {of what You give me} unto thee” (Genesis 28:22). See a Bible Byte study titled: Prayer with Thankfulness, which sheds light on this very subject of receiving from God in light of verses such as Matthew 21:22.

Psalms 46:7:
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

Jacob would contribute only after his receiving, and his life was indeed blessed; he was praying and being honest with God and being true to himself for the prospects of his inner happiness. Since the God of Jacob is still our refuge in today’s world, should we not want to learn from him and follow his example and belief system? Jacob indeed was a principled man and wanted to know why it is more blessed to give than it is to receive, and as he received from God first, he then realized it is also blessed to give in return from out the blessings he received (because they were not his in the first place making his giving much easier, it is like playing with house money). This is the reasoning behind cheerful giving (II Corinthians 9:6-9) because one will manifest happiness! “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help.”

It is not wrong to think as Jacob did — it is right to think as Jacob thought, it is not wrong to behave as Jacob did — it is right to behave as Jacob behaved, it is not wrong to believe as Jacob did — it is right to believe as Jacob believed, it is not wrong to say what Jacob did — it is right to say to God what Jacob said, in fact, God said of him “Jacob have I loved” (Romans 9:13). Furthermore, God did not curse Jacob for saying what he said, but blessed him. “Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal” (Ezekiel 18:25), in other words God’s way is right and Jacob proved to himself that God’s way was very equal and abundantly pleasing to him. Man’s way is to give first, God’s way is to receive first; man’s way is unequal, God’s way is equal. Man’s way is unbalanced and although God’s way may at first seem unbalanced and narrow-minded in man’s mind, it is actually perfectly balanced, as Jesus stated “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14). I ask, have we found God’s way, His equal way? God’s way turns the tables, so-to-speak, and rights one’s course into true godliness, “godliness is profitable {PROFITABLE} unto all things” (I Timothy 4:6).

Truth (which makes one free,― John 8:32) purposely inspires the joy of giving from within the heart; error drains the joy of giving from the heart to become an uninspired, compulsive and legalistic function.

“For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6). Sacrifice and burnt offerings were based on giving something in the prospect of getting something (i.e., a quid pro quo/tradeoff), while God desires mercy and knowledge which assures more. In fact, Jesus said of Hosea 6:6 “go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13). Mercy means the withholding back of that which is deserved, like a punishment and condemnation for a past sin, while God gives something so much grander, such as total forgiveness, love, mercy, peace, grace, and an abundant life; “no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Psalms 84:11). These kinds of treasures we can come to know and experience and receive when we understand that it is He Who gives us not simply a tradeoff but more abundance because He “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). A nutshell version: When your giving is a sacrifice, it is not what our God of love intended. “Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Micah 6:7-8).

Who would not want to walk humbly with God and know for certain that He is blessing them personally simply because He loves them? “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn {called} thee” (Jeremiah 31:3). Who would not want to give from their personal God-given blessings with which He has blessed them? We receive blessings in order that we may enjoy an abundant life that comes directly from the ebb and flow of receiving from God and therein we are enabled to enjoy a heart of giving without having shortage or making sacrifices. From a biblical perspective, Jacob’s spiritual joy and physical happiness opened up to him the flowing simplicity of godly abundance, and is the foundation of discovering why it is more blessed to give than to receive because it is the key to more of what is free from God.

It certainly is easier to give out of what God blesses one with than to give out of what you have to start with and just may need to live on in the first place. When God becomes your God as He became Jacob’s, then the true perspective of life with God in your life will become living and real and life becomes a joy worth singing about. It is more blessed to give and receive Jacob’s way, which just happens to be God’s way! Yes, this is why it is thankworthy to pray with happiness and thank our heavenly Father. Jesus and Paul never taught “with effort you have worked, so freely give,” rather they taught God’s children, “freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8).

When we, the children of God, live our lives in this perfect harmony of receiving and giving, then the greatest treasures in life become ever more available and real to us. Then God’s Blessings continue coming in and we can experience genuine spiritual happiness living our lives in all the joy God originally intended.

Psalms 35:27-28:
-27: Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
-28: And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.

“We are justified, not by giving anything to God . . . but by receiving from God, what Christ hath done for us.” ~William Gurnall~

For more on this topic, see: The Seeds of Authentic Abundance (What Is Not in the Scriptures Is so Often Just as Important as What Is in the Scriptures!) and The Fullness of God (The First Principle)